FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Pennsylvania Governor Inducts Jim and Donna Winner intoKeystone Society for Tourism

May 7, 2008 – SHARON, PA – Governor Edward G. Rendell has inducted Jim and Donna Winner into the Keystone Society for Tourism, the highest honor the commonwealth presents to leaders in the tourism industry.  This is the inaugural year for the Keystone Society for Tourism. Inductees were selected by the Pennsylvania Tourism Office in consultation with the Governor’s Tourism Partnership. The society honors Pennsylvania visionaries in destination leadership and community development.

Jim and Donna Winner have made a significant impact on the tourism and economic development of their native Mercer County.  When the Shenango Valley was struggling with the loss of its steel industry, the Winners were instrumental in reinventing the county as a tourism destination.  Their vision and zeal reclaimed many of the county’s historic landmarks and created millions of tourism dollars.

The Governor bestowed the honor during the first Governor’s Conference on Tourism in Gettysburg, which was created to focus on preserving the distinctive character of a community while building economic development through cultural and place-based tourism.  Mercer County was represented at the two and a half-day long conference by Sharon Mayor Bob Lucas and Laura Ackley, General Manager of Buhl Mansion and Director of Marketing for Tara.  Ackley also serves as the Vice President of the Mercer County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau and is on the Board of Directors of the Pennsylvania Tourism and Lodging Association.  Peggy Mazyck, Executive Director of the CVB and Representative Mark Longietti attended the dinner to honor the Winners.

Jim and Donna Winner were also recognized last year when they received the Pennsylvania Tourism and Lodging Association’s Spirit of Hospitality Innkeeper of the Year Award for both Tara – A Country Inn and Buhl Mansion Guesthouse & Spa.

In 1985 the Winners purchased an abandoned 1854 Greek Revival mansion along the shores of Shenango Lake and created Tara – A Country Inn.  This award-winning inn has 27 beautiful guestrooms, gourmet and casual dining, meeting and banquet rooms, indoor and outdoor pools, elegant gardens with stunning settings for outdoor gazebo weddings and a virtual museum of Civil War artifacts and Gone With The Wind memorabilia.  In 1996 a multi-million dollar restoration of the 1890s stone castle, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, created what is now one of America’s “Top 10 Romantic Inns”. Buhl Mansion Guesthouse & Spa offers ten luxurious guestrooms, a full service spa with over 100 indulgent treatments and spectacular gardens fit for fairytale castle weddings.  Tara and Buhl Mansion are both honored to be members of Select Registry: Distinguished Inns of North America.

The Winners also own The Winner – the World’s Largest Off-Price Fashion Store, the Radisson Hotel in West Middlesex, Tiffany's Banquet Hall and Winner Institute of Arts & Sciences, a culinary school designed to feed the needs of the region’s restaurant industry.  Jim Winner is Chairman of the Board of Winner International Inc. whose most notable product is “The Club”, the vehicle anti-theft device.